Illustrated by A. Kurkin.

Thirty-four of the six hundred fascinating stories from the collection that it took talented ethnographer Alexander Afanasiev (1826-1871) fifteen years to compile. He collected one of the finest private libraries in Moscow. In the middle of the nineteenth century Russian folklore, which for many centuries had been passed down traditionally from generation to generation, entered into a period of crisis. Disturbed by new social processes, creative thought turned to new subjects and the art of story-telling went into decline. Afanasiev's collection has saved the best of Russian folk tales from oblivion and preserved for posterity his fine collection. Also in this series see "The Magic Ring:Russian Folk Tales from Alexander Afanasiev's Collection". Gloss paper pages with beautiful full colour illustrations by Alexander Mikhailovich Kurkin. Kurkin was born in 1916 in Sibliev in the Rostov region. he studied at the Palekh Art School from 1935 to 1940 and worked at the Palekh Art Workshop until 1976, except for the period 1941- 1945, when he served at the front in the War. Contents:The Animals in the Pit. The Cat, the Rooster and the Fox.The Wolf and the Goat.The Animals'Winter Home.The Tale of Ruff Ruffson, Son of Bristle.The Fox and the Crane. The Greedy Old Woman. Baba-Yaga and Puny. The Swan-Geese. Right and Wrong. Prince Ivan and Princess Martha. The Three Kingdoms. Evening, Midnight and Dawn. Shabarsha. Marya Morevna. King Ivan and Bely, the Warrior of the Plains. Emelya and the Pike. The Fire-Bird and Princess Vassilissa. The Horse, the Table-Cloth and the Horn. Go I Know Not Where, Bring I Know Not What. The King of the Sea and Vassilissa the Wise. Fenist the Falcon. Elena the Wise. The Prophetic Dream. The Mountain of Gold. A Cunning Trade. The White Duck. The Riddle. The Wise Maid and the Seven Robbers.The Fortune-Teller. Ivan the Fool.

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